MP3 Player questions

[Zweite Version]

I'm thinking about getting one, but no iPod yet. I'd be thankful if some of you who have one could answer me the following questions: Do they come with a software to "rip" songs from a CD to the player? How long does it take to download 128 MB of music onto the player via USB? If I have a CD with NO spaces between the songs (opera), how does the player handle this? Is there a usually a function to play the selections with no space in between, as it would otherwise destract the flow of the opera? Thank you! :wave:

[Zweite Version]

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[where02190]

ipod does not come with software, itunes comes with your mac, and is a free dl from apple. 128mb is pretty miniscule file size, and I doubt you'd notice the time it takes to copy. the mp3 will play exactly like the cd file, and you set up pluaylists. if there's not gap, there's not gap between mp3's. However, the quality of mp3 is going to be a distraction, it's a far cry from CD even at high resolution if you've got decent ears.

[Anderton]

> Are you sure? I asked this question about iPods, and someone wrote that it inserts a pause at markers, which disrupts the flow of live music. If you remove the markers and copy a concert over as one big file, of course there won't be pauses. My little RAM-based player does the same thing. The problem with copying over a single big file is that if you can't fast forward or rewind through a piece, you're stuck with going to either the end or beginning of the file, not the middle.

[Rim]

I've recently went MP3 player shopping so here's my take. Please note that I am using my Windows 98 machine for ripping and loading songs into the MP3 player. First some general things: Decide how portable you want your MP3 player. It's usually a tradeoff between portability and storage space. To me, portability was key. Speaking of storage, decide how much you would need/like. I started with 128MB but using the highest quality files, it was small for my needs. I ended up with a 256MB. I would also pay close attention to the highest quality resolution it can play back and record (sometimes these are not the same) as well as what formats are supported. I already ripped some songs from my CDs using Media Player so I needed something that can play WMA files. Some players can also play RealAudio files. The best quality Media Player 9 can rip is 192Kbps and I thought the sound is pretty good. Some players I tried could only do 128Kbps and there was a huge difference - 192 was smoother and had better bass, IMO. Battery life may also be important to you. Most players that run on a single AAA battery will last around 15 hrs. Those using a single AA will usually last 24 hrs. YMMV. I've found the earphones included with the players I tried was horrible. They also tended to have this annoying thing where the cable for one ear was a lot longer than for the other ear by design - most likely because most came with an arm strap so it "evens out". Spend $20 and get better earphones - I got a pair from Sony. Bells & Whistles - Many had special effects that is used to create a wider stereo image and/or boost the bass. I didn't like any of it because it tended to be more of a tradeoff. The bass boost ended up scooping out the midrange and the wider stereo tended to make the sound to harsh and brittle. Combining them both really scooped out the midrange and hence the vocals. Here is my take on some specific models I tried: Creative Labs MuVO I liked the fact that the player plugs directly to a USB port - no need for a cable. Of course, if your USB ports on your computer is not easily accessible, that may be more of a pain, but you could always get a USB hub. The MuVO shows up as a removable drive which has two main advantages: ease of use (you can drop and drag files to upload) and support of any file format for transferring to other machines (not necessarily for playing music). What I mean by the second advantage is, it's like a floppy disk in that it can store any kind of file, but you can only play music in the format it supports. I've *read* that the controls easily break. The biggest drawback is that when you power it off, it doesn't remember where you were in the song so when you power it on again, it starts from the beginning. I tried this almost a year ago so maybe they've fixed it. This also does not have an FM tuner, if that's important to you. iRiver iFP390T Of the ones I tried, I thought this sounded the best. I was a little disappointed with the Sennheiser earphones that came with it, though better than the others. I still liked the Sony earphones I bought separately. The FM tuner is pretty cool, too. I was almost happy with this but the deal breaker was the way you upload your songs into it. This doesn't show up as a removable drive - you need to use their software (included) to upload your songs. On all of the ones I tried, you need to install a driver, but this requires you to install another application to upload files. The software does, if I remember correctly, let you rip from CD. A cool feature it has is you can plug a CD player directly into it and rip it that way. The big drawback to this feature is, you can only rip it at 128Kbps WMA even though it can play back up to 192Kbps. You can also record with its built-in mic but at low quality. I also would've liked a non-repeating shuffle playback mode. Samsung Yepp YP-35H and YP-55V Both Yepps show up as removable drives but the 35H could only playback 128Kbps WMA files. The 35H also only had 128MB and no FM tuner so it was out. You can also record on both with their built-in mics but at low quality. Neither include software to rip from CDs. The YP-55V is what I ended up with. It had good sound (w/ the bells and whistles turned off), small, 256MB, support for 192Kbps WMA, FM tuner and it shows up as a removable drive on my PC. I would've liked is if it used AA instead of AAA so it would have more hours of playback. I also would've liked a non-repeating shuffle playback mode. My best recommendation is to try some out yourselves. I bought mine from Best Buy because they have a 14 day return policy. They gave me no problems when I returned things because I didn't like them.

[Salyphus]

i just got an iPod and it is a truly amazing thing. And you can get extremely good deals right now on refurbs at the Apple online store. I also have a Rio 500 and you'd be surprised how long a measly 128MB can take to transfer over USB.... Finally, here is some info on the gaps that are inherent to MP3 files: http://www.geocities.com/altbinariessoundsmusicclassical/mp3gaps.html

[Zweite Version]

Thanks everyone! I'm going to go to best buy the next chance I get.

[Talcott]

I love my ipod. They have ten gig pods refubed at the apple store for windows at like 170 dollars in the special section.

[Salyphus]

Seriously, please don't buy a 128MB player in this day and age! I have one and it was nice for its time, but WAY obsoleted by the iPod. To have that much music available is a paradigm shift in portable entertainment.